April 18, 2014 -- The California Coastal Commission has reopened a long-standing fight with Venice Beach, Santa Monica’s neighbor to the south, over the City of L.A.’s beach curfew.

But the fight between the State agency that governs California’s coastline and LA over whether a city can enforce blanket rules that restrict general access to the beach during certain times, is unlikely to affect Santa Monica, where the beaches are accessible to the public 24 hours a day.

“We’ve also spoken with the City of Santa Monica,” said Andrew Willis, the Coastal Commission enforcement analyst who recently petitioned Los Angeles’ Park and Recreation Department to ease the City’s prohibition against using the beach between midnight and 5 a.m.

Willis letter to the City of Los Angeles called for allowing 24-hour access to the beach unless “credible evidence” of a public safety problem could be produced.

While Santa Monica does have some restrictions, none conflict with the Coastal Commission’s goal of maximizing access to the beach.

“There’s no blanket closure of the beach like there is in the City of Los Angeles,” Willis said. “We want to make sure that people can get down to State waters.”

Santa Monica’s municipal code prevents people from pitching tents or “other temporary housing or shelter which is closed or capable of being closed more than fifty percent from the ground up.”